Russell Simmons Expands His All Def Digital YouTube Network

Russell Simmons, famous for his hip-hop music label Def Jam, just
announced at Business Insider's IGNITION 2013 conference that he and fellow music
entrepreneur Steve Rifkind are expanding All Def Digital, their
YouTube multichannel network for diverse millennials that
launched this summer.

All Def Digital is the first
premiere community-based platform for millennials to produce and
share their own channels and will include 3 million subscribers
and 1 billion views through its premium channel
partners.

"We produce new, interesting
content that no one would accept in television," Simmons says.
One example of a series on All Def Digital: a comedy show called
"Blackie Sack."

"We couldn't just walk that
into HBO," Simmons says.

Simmons and Rifkind will also be able to use the multichannel
network to help them spot—through video views and comments—which
artists are going to become the next big stars worth including on
their digital music label.

"More people are pursuing music now than ever before," Simmons
said. "Helping artists find and expand on their passions is what
makes me happy. All Def Digital is my chance. We're doing this
because we love it."

Simmons also brought up the fact that All Def Digital will be
creating content including people of all colors
for people of all colors, to fill the void that he sees
in a lot of mainstream media.

"Hollywood is more segregated than Jerry f***ing Springer," he
said. "We want to create
content that's inspiring to new America."